XGatorHead 8904

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! Special thanks to LongLiveTheSmurfRide and Terpy... it's good to know my snapping issue on the Eagles wasn't a problem on my part. I'd like to think I still know how to do it. I like the flyeraddicts site, now I know what parks I can go to for my fix. It was almost a case of "don't know what you've got until it's gone" with KI's. When rumors first started circulating in the KI offices about the scooters being moved to Carowinds, I made it a point to ride them as much as possible. It's good to see people enjoying it in the pictures from Carowinds (even with the terrible Danny Phantom paint job), but after viewing the site I'm now in a nostalgic mood for them. One ride that we had wanted to do was Raging Rapids. My daughter would have been able to ride, but can't ride WWC at KI which is basically the same thing. We just simply ran out of time, there was so much else for us to do. Next up (besides 2 planned trips to KI this weekend): Magic Kingdom on Sept. 15th and Disney's Hollywood Studios on Sept. 17th.

Thanks RailRider & Ashers! It's great when they get big enough to ride, it will be fun to see what new things she can ride each year. And that picture of her driving is my desktop wallpaper. Compared to KI, the food prices are VERY good at HW, especially with not having to pay for drinks (but I'm sure that's built into the admission price).

I know it's taken me a while to get this up, but my TR's tend to get a little wordy... Those of you looking for a TR recounting marathon rides on Raven, Legend and Voyage will be sorely disappointed. As much as I would like that, it’s just not possible with a 3 year old, but just as much fun is had watching her enjoy the rides she can go on. We did manage to ride 2 of the 3 though. We got to the park about 10 minutes after opening. On our way in from the parking lot, Pat Koch was out there greeting all the guests. Last time we were there in 2003 we saw her in the park with a pan & broom sweeping. This shows to me that they really care about the place, a feeling that you don’t get from many of the corporate owned parks. Our daughter talked us into renting a wagon, which we’re glad we ended up doing. It was only $10, $5 of that was a deposit you got back at the end of the night. Not a bad deal at all! Our first stop was the Santa Claus statue. It was there that my wife realized that there had not been film in the camera all weekend, so all the pictures we took at Grandpa’s house with him, my aunts and cousins were non-existent. You may be asking yourself, “Film? What’s that?” Yes, I’m one of the 3 Americans who have not gone digital yet. I’ve had the same trusty camera since junior high, and I say it takes pictures that are just as good as many digitals. Once the film situation was corrected, a nice gentleman took our picture for us. Our daughter just sat under Santa on her own, we thought it was funny. We had about 15 minutes before the Santa’s Storytime show was to begin, which we wanted to see since you don’t often get to see Santa in August, but a little person in our group wanted none of that. She wanted to get right to the rides! She’s so like me in that way, I think I’ll call her Mini-Me. Our first ride was their Antiques. After a ½ hour wait(!), we selected our driver. She’s used to driving the cars in Nick U, but she really had a blast driving the grown-ups around! Next were the canoes… and Salmon Run. We rode their new carousel, which has a beautifully painted dragon which Mini-Me fell in love with, and she stood and looked at it for quite a while. We went next to the Freedom Train, a mini train with Mother Goose scenes along the way. While in line, a kid about 10 years old who was on the other side of the queue divider tapped me on the arm and asked “Can I get in front of you?” I couldn’t believe the gall of this kid. I said “No, wait in line like everyone else!” And we were situated in the part of the queue were there were two full rows of people in line between us. Later I heard this same kid tell the family behind him that he didn’t feel like walking through the Holidog’s Funtown to get to the other side, so he was going to get off at the other station. Well, the train does a complete circuit around Holidog’s Funtown, but there’s only one station. This kid was unbelievable. But enough about him, onto the train… Someone seems to be having more fun than Miss Hannah Montana next to her. Amazingly we got the same chauffeur for the Jeeps that we had for the Antique cars! Mini-Me’s coaster count has now increased to 2! The Howler is a little more intense than LBGC, but that didn’t stop someone from putting her hands up! Next is Eagles Flight. Mini-Me and I shared a bird. My wife was very nervous about that because she knows how I loved to snap the ones at KI. I promised to keep my arm around her at all times, and I did. However, try as I might, I wasn’t able to get that bird flying like I used to. I don’t know if I’m out of practice or if it’s just a difference between the two scooters, but I did my best and we had a great time on it anyway. We moved on to Thanksgiving, where we took a spin on Turkey Whirl (we love tilt-a-whirls!) then onto Gobbler Getaway, a dark ride similar to SD&THC where you shoot targets to help the farmer find all of his turkeys that have escaped. Very colorful and cute little ride. As it was now lunchtime, we went to Plymouth Rock Café. While we were standing outside looking at the menu, the very nice associate washing the outside windows told us about their menu. The adult entrée came with 3 sides, and the child’s came with two. When my wife said that she wished she could order the child’s for herself, the associate said that she could. The associate agreed with her that 3 sides were too much to eat in this heat. We had a nice 5 minute conversation with this associate, who was very helpful discussing the menu with us. So I got a meal with ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans (which were some of the best I’ve ever had anywhere), and fried apples. My wife got chicken & dumplings, stuffing & sweet potato, while Mini-Me got ham, corn on the cob and mac & cheese. Each meal came with a corn muffin, and my wife got a slice of pumpkin pie while Mini-Me and I shared a Pudding Parfait. Our grand total was $24.95 plus tax. My wife quipped “That would have only gotten us 3 slices of pizza and a Coke at Kings Island.” The cashier just smiled, perhaps she’s heard comments like this before? It’s hot, our bellies are full, so what better place to go than the waterpark? Some of the rides here are similar to rides at KI, and at HW my 38” daughter can ride their versions but not KI’s. The problem was that the lines for those were so long, we ended up not doing those anyway. Their new wavepool, Bahari, had great waves and is a much better pool than their original, The Wave. We spent a lot of time in both, as well as Jungle Jets, a cute little area with water jets coming from the ground, trees and numerous pipes. We spent a little time in Monsoon Lagoon and Kima Bay, and did both of the lazy rivers. Because of the lines, we missed Watubee (Snowy River) and Zoombabwe (Snowy River in the dark). Maybe next time. After a quick visit to our locker (which was only $10, $7 of which was a deposit, compare that to Boomerang Bay’s locker prices!) to change, we started making our way to Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch via the Halloween section. On our way, I noticed that the line for Raven was non-existent. I had contacted HW the week before about their parent swap policy, and they use the system KI had in the 70’s & 80’s: kid waits with you in line, one parent rides then gets the kid handed off to them while 2nd parent rides. We weren’t sure how this would fly with Mini-Me since she’s used to doing other things while one of goes on a ride, but we explained it to her and it ended up being fine. Raven was a walk-on, and I went first. When I got back, the first thing Mini-Me says to me is “Was that ride fun, Daddy?” I had to laugh, because we’ve asked her that very same question so many times after she’s gotten off a ride for the first time. After we’re done with Raven, which is a nice coaster (but I still like Beast better), we go to Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch. The rides in this section remind me of carnival rides, but that doesn’t matter to the target audience. What all of these rides in this section have to do with Christmas is beyond me. There’s the seahorses: a little carousel: planes: and this is a ride straight out of the 1950’s… Rockets With Guns! We were at the bumper boats and we were talking to one of the ride ops there. While Mini-Me was on the ride, my wife said “It seems like everyone who works here wants to be here”, and she was right. All the associates we spoke with were friendly, helpful and did not have an attitude like they had somewhere better to be, unlike so many times at our home park. I see a common thread in the last five pictures. She’s such a ham with that smile! We had just enough time to get to Voyage! We promised the little one that we would ride another one for her if we had time afterward. I had been looking at this one all day… It’s hard to miss. The structure (I had never seen a steel support/wood tracked coaster before, only the other way around), the banking and the trains rushing through them were amazing. My wife even wanted to ride, and she’s really decreased her coaster riding over the past couple of years due to how they make her ache. But she couldn’t pass up riding the #1 woodie in the US. We waited in line 30 minutes, during which time Mini-Me fell asleep in my arms. We lined up towards the front of the train, it was either 3rd or 4th row, and I handed Little Miss Sleeping Beauty over to my wife. To answer a question that was asked of me at the Diamondback unveiling, being a bigger guy, I had less trouble fitting into Voyage and Raven than I do many of the coasters at KI. The anticipation mounted while climbing the lift. The sun was just under the horizon, I knew nothing of the layout, and I really had no idea what to expect besides the two obvious huge hills at the beginning, the awesome banking towards the end, and the fact that there were some tunnels. Wow, that thing moves! I started the ride with my hands up like I always do on coasters, but there came a point when I had to lower them and hold on. The speed was relentless, it didn’t let up. I noticed one short section of brakes before a tunnel, but it slowed you down only a little. There were some great sharp turns, and the ride seemed to go on and on. When we were finally done and were in the brakes before the station, I learned the true meaning of the phrase “catch my breath”. I was having so much fun that I think I forgot to breath towards the end, and finally got the chance in the brakes. As my wife handed Mini-Me over to me, she asked if I thought she could handle it. All I could say was “YOU HAVE TO RIDE IT!” As I stood there with my daughter sleeping very soundly in my arms, I wondered what my wife would think of it. Well, when her train came back and was sitting in the brakes, the train that was in the station at the time couldn’t be dispatched because they had to re-set something. Maintenance responded very quickly and had them moving within a few minutes. My wife loved it, even though she and the girl behind her both lost their hair scrunchies. I tried to lay Mini-Me down in the wagon so we could head out, it was only two minutes until closing. This of course woke her up and she asked, “What we gonna ride?” We headed to Turkey Whirl since it was the closest, but as we were headed that way the ride op closed the line. A glance over to Gobbler Getaway showed that it was still open, and we ran over there. One of the ride ops saw us hurrying through the queue, looked at her watch and saw it was time to close up. She closed the doors behind us, so we were the last riders on that for the day. We had a great time, with tons of free lemonade and Gatorade to boot. This might just become a yearly thing for us for a while, even with the 3 hour drive home in the dark! Of course, once someone gets taller, I think we might alternate trips with a certain peninsula up north…

To paraphrase one Spongebob Squarepants: No crabby patty is complete without the patty. Or was that the pickle?

Wood: Voyage Steel: Millenium Force, with the old restraint restrictions since I'm currently deemed "too big" Flat: Give me back my Flying Eagles!

Trip #11 – 7/23 While my wife went to see the American Idols tour with her sister, I had to find something to occupy my daughter. I had the idea to go to KI for a cheap night of fun, but my wife had already told her we were going to see Space Chimps. I get to daycare, and my daughter says, “I want to see the space movie”. I said, “How about if we go to Kings Island instead?” She says, “No, I want to see the space movie.” I say, “But we can ride all the rides at Kings Island”, to which she replies, after a slight pause, and you can just see the light bulb going on in her head, “I want to do both!” Now I’ve gotten myself into trouble… We manage to get over to Showcase across from KI for the 6:30 showing of Space Chimps. After seeing Wall-E two weeks before, I was not too impressed with it, but she had fun. We get out and head across the street, getting there at 8:15. For a Wednesday night, there were a ton of kids there around her age with their parents, so I didn’t feel too bad about keeping her out late. Usually Nick U dies down later in the day, but not that night. We get a few rides in (with Scooby being first, naturally), and we share a blue ice cream. It was a good little night of some daddy/daughter time. Trip #12 – 8/6 – The Big Reveal & My 2nd Solo Trip of the Year I just had to be there for the biggest announcement in the park’s 36 year history, so I took the day off and went to the Island. Knowing this was probably one of my last chances to get some big rides in was, of course, another motivator. I got to the park at 9:45 and waited for the ropes to drop near Keyhole Photo. Once they did, I was off to Firehawk for my first ride on it of the year. After FH it was on to FoF, then Racer. Once again, they were not racing The Racer, but I excused them this time because Red had just gone down for a maintenance issue and all the people that were in line for Red were asked to go over to Blue. Then on to AdvExp and Delirium after that. I got 5 rides done in an hour and a half! I love days like this! I had to leave the park at 11:15 to meet some friends for lunch down at Fields Ertel for our annual Bristol-Nascar-Weekend-Planning Lunch. I get back to the park at 1:15, which is just enough time to go up the Tower to check out the Swan Lake construction before I head to Rivertown. I find a spot with a good view of the stage. My wife will love the news that the Bradys are coming, I know where we’ll be 8/31. After those announcements, finally the news we all have waited forever for…Diamondback! I love that logo! Many of us were right on with the snake theme, which wasn’t too hard after the snake eye teaser appeared on the KI website. My only disappointment with the presentation was that there was no visit by Montel Williams! After the stage presentation, I head over to look at the animation and the model. I must say I’m very impressed and can’t wait to ride this thing next year. I love the fact that that in addition to the animation, they had an actual working model. It just brings home the reality of what this coaster will be. While checking out the model, it was also nice to finally meet a couple of people from this site (hello, Kawana and Captain Nemo!). And the elusive XGatorHead was captured in this photo, to the far right in the black shirt: For some reason I don’t look too happy, but I was having fun that day, I swear! After I had my fill of Diamondback (for now), I decided to give Crypt another try, since the last time I only got ½ a ride in. While in line, I heard something absolutely hilarious, which I recounted here. I was not enamored with Crypt this time. No music, and the program I found to be not as thrilling as the old TR:TR program. I think I liked it on my ½ ride earlier this year because it caught me off guard. But on a full ride cycle without the music, lighting and other effects, it was just Flipping in a Box. Not very thrilling. I had to let KI redeem itself, so I went to Beast next, and waited for the front row. Finally, some fun again! BLSC and Vortex are next. After Vortex, I felt like a cool tasty treat, so on my way to Action Zone I stop by the frozen lemonade stand and order a frozen limeade. What she gave me tasted more like sour apple than lime, but it was still cool and refreshing so I didn’t complain. I was just hot and was glad to have something cold. I get in line for DT, and heard something else hilarious which is also recounted in the same post as the Crypt comment two paragraphs up. After not much of a wait, I get in my seat, lower the restraint, and very quickly realize that there is no way that I am ever going to get that thing buckled. No amount of pushing and pulling and sucking in is gonna do it, so I just leave my seat and exit the ride before the ride ops even come around to check the restraints. I wish that DT had the same “seatbelts” that Delirium has on its restraints instead of the one end being hard-mounted onto the restraint. But that’s comparing an Intamin to a Huss, so I know that’s not really a fair comparison and not likely to happen. Oh well, just another Intamin I can’t ride. I go to Invertigo next, and it’s 5:00 when I get off. I have a little time to kill before I have to leave to pick up my daughter from daycare, but not really enough time to wait for a ride, so I go to see Girls Night Out again. They’re wearing different outfits than before… I wonder if there’s a reason for that or if they had two sets of wardrobe all along. And of course I get singled out a little bit (as a male, sitting alone, in a show with an all female cast) when Kimber points directly at me while singing “Why Haven’t I Heard From You”. At least I wasn’t the one dragged up on stage! What a great day… 11 rides, a show and the presentation all in 5.75 hours! I can’t wait for Diamondback!

I heard 3 good ones on my visit on 8/6. In order from least to most funny, they are: Boy at drink cart outside Rivertown Pizza, pointing up at Vortex: "What's that ride?" Grandmother to boy: "That's just part of The Beast". I let that one slide... Teen Boy #1 in line for DT, watching the Diamondback animation on QTV: "I think that's the new coaster!" Teen Boy #2: "No, that's the old one, King Cobra. They wouldn't have video of the new one yet." I HAD to correct that one... And now, the funniest thing I've heard at the park in a looong time. Let me set the scene: We're in the line for Crypt, in the former monkeyman room that's been converted to a switchback queue. It's about 3:00 on August 6th, an hour after they made the Diamondback announcement: Teen girl to boyfriend, who she has her arms wrapped around and she's literally hanging off of: "Well, you saw the website. It said 'Opening August 6th at 2:00'. 'Opening August 6th at 2:00' means we can ride it August 6th at 2:00. It doesn't mean 'Starting construction August 6th at 2:00'! I'm not happy!" Wow...there was just too much to correct with this one that I couldn't possibly explain to her before the line moved that the website actually said "Coming August 6th at 2:00" and that the construction actually started months ago.

I went to the Backyard BBQ on July 4th... and what is listed is all they had. Unless the "and more" refers to the onions and pickles they had to put on the burgers!

Good TR, sorry to hear about all the things that went wrong. But there's no way I could pass up MF like you did! BTW, I have a Mean Streak hat I could sell you! Just kidding, I couldn't bear to part with that. I just had to have a souvenir of one of the roughest coasters I've been on. Now if only I had bought a Manhattan Express one as well...

When does Waterboard Thrill Ride's contract with Nickelodeon expire? And when it does expire, will Spongebob be replaced with the Peanuts gang or HB characters? Now that this has made the news, I can see Nick having a problem with Spongebob being waterboarded by Squidward...

^Wow... I've been shown up by 8 and 9 year olds! I must be getting old! My 3 year old was a trooper and waited in line with us for Raven (which was a walk-on) and Voyage (35 minute wait). When I got off Raven and my wife handed her off to me, she asked me "Was that fun, Daddy?", the same question we ask her when she gets off a new ride (except for her name in place of "Daddy" of course). We're bringing her up right, HW was her 4th park (KI, MK and Epcot are the others, Disney Studios will be her 5th next month) and she loves every ride she's ever been on. She's at 38", only 10 more to go!

^The park does have it's own police force, staffed with actual police officers. Those are the ones that you see with guns. Some work for area police departments and do this as a second job, some work solely for KI. Most of the security guards are not police officers but do go through training, but I can't speak as to what that training is exactly since I've never gone through it myself. Those guards, of course, are not certified to carry firearms. They also have police officers from Mason PD at the park often. Overall KI is a safe environment and I would not worry about bringing your kids there. I've never had a problem as a guest, and in the 16 years I worked at the park I worked closely with security and park police often and am confident in their abilites.

I got on my computer at 11:55. At that time the countdown clock said 1 hour 5 minutes left. I decided to leave it open for the next hour and move on to other things. Well, I got a surprise at midnight when I heard a scream, I minimized what I was doing and saw a flash of white on the KI page but I couldn't quite tell what it was, then the clock reset to countdown to 2:00. Only 14 hours 30 minutes left now... I'll be there!

I just went to HW yesterday (PTR to come soon), so this is good timing! Overall, I'd have to pick KI just for the total selection and variety of rides and entertainment. HW does have many positives such as the drinks (I drank sooo much free lemonade & Gatorade yesterday), great waterpark, cleanliness, friendliness, and their woodies... I rode Voyage for the first time ever last night and OMG! that thing is great! I always keep my hands up all the way on coasters (except for the lift hills) but there came a point on Voyage where I HAD to hold on, and I finally learned the true meaning of the phrase "catch my breath" when the ride ended. I didn't know anything about the layout so I was in for some treats such as teriffic airtime, quick turns and SPEED. But more on that in my PTR when I get around to posting that.

Yes! SNAKE oil! But given all the great teasers KI has given us recently, hopefully it doesn't take this definition from wikipedia: I don't think it will though. Once again, an excellent press invite!

We're going to Holiday World this Monday (I'll be sure to post a TR, maybe even with pictures this time!), and being the researcher I am the best price I'm able to find is AAA which is $5 off the gate price. We're going to use the Pepsi can discount, which is currently $4 off at the gate (it changes at different times of the season), because we don't want to be stuck with tickets in case something were to happen and we weren't able to go. The tickets at the hotels were not as good. No deep discounts that I can find, unlike what's available for KI now. Even without factoring in the would-be price of parking and drinks, Holiday World will be making more $ off of us in this one visit than a single visit to KI if I weren't a SP holder. If I weren't a KI SP holder I would have gotten a deep discount, and still been turned away by the high food prices. With HW's more reasonable food prices, we won't be going to our car to eat or an outside restaurant like we do with KI. And there sure as heck aren't any deep discounts for our trip to WDW in September. Every year we do two parks in two days, and the past two years we have been extremely fortunate enough to have a friend who works there who is able to get us comp tickets for one of those days. So that leaves us with having to pay for one day. The discounts really kick in around the 3 to 4 day ticket range, but that's fine with me. WDW is a whole other beast than the seasonal parks. Now on the topic at hand, I like the idea of the wristband, but it's really not worth it for us. Besides water, we typically get one souvenir cup refill per visit, which we share between the 3 of us. And that doesn't make us criminals, we just don't drink enough Coke products individually to warrant 3 different drinks.

I just found out about KICentral: The Second Coming. I haven't been on this site as much as usual lately because I'm busy studying for my Series 6/Investment company exam... I'll be glad when that's over! It's great that you guys are organizing this again. I really wanted to go this year since I didn't go last year, I wasn't on this site then. But I'll be in Michigan that day for my wife's family reunion. I was hoping it would be on August 9th since that's the only weekend I'm not out of state in August. Oh well, maybe next year! Have fun everyone that is going!

^That sounds like the movie(s) House of Wax. I've only seen the 1953 original starring Vincent Price, I highly recommend that one. For some reason I've really had no desire to see the 2005 "remake" starring Paris Hilton... oh wait, she's the reason I never wanted to see it!

^So is Paul Revere getting married there again, making it the record number of times someone has been married at Kings Island?

Trip #9 – 7/4 - Rick Wallenda/Independence Day! After 2 weeks without going to the park, we sure made up for it this weekend with two visits in three days! Highlights:- We got to the park at 1:45 in the rain, and the parking lot is almost empty! The crowd does pick up later in the day, but looks like the rain kept people at home for the early part of the day. - With Wallenda’s first walk pushed back due to weather, we saw Endless Summer. Good as always. - After a few Nick U rides, we headed to the picnic grove. We spent 659.4 nickels online the day before to purchase the Backyard BBQ tickets, and overall it was a decent experience. The food was plentiful, although the chicken could have been juicier. It wasn’t as good as what the grove used to serve years ago. I overheard one of the associates tell his supervisor that he had a lot of people complain that it’s called the Backyard BBQ, but there’s no BBQ to be found (menu consists of hotdogs, burgers and fried chicken). The burgers and hotdogs were okay, and come to think of it I guess I may be basing my “decent” rating on quantity rather than quality. But my daughter loved it all, especially the ice cream. - My daughter hugged Dino and Barney Rubble! She had no idea who they are, but she hugged them anyway. - OMG HE DID IT! We stood between ET and the fountain on the Starbucks side to watch the 2nd Wallenda walk. We didn’t see the 1st because we figured the little one would only be patient enough to sit through one of them, so we waited for the longer walk. Once he made it about ½ way over the fountain on his way out of the park, I went over to Starbucks to get us some blended Chai drinks for a total of 222.6 nickels while my wife stayed outside and my daughter played with some friends she had just made. I got back out just in time to see the last part of Wallenda’s return over the fountain. I’m not sure I would have wanted to be one of the park associates they had holding the support lines. If he had fallen while I was holding it, I would have been emotionally scarred. But thankfully he made it alright. - While waiting for the fireworks in our usual spot (the slab of concrete where a food cart used to be between ET and BLSC), we got to talking to an older gentleman who had come to watch the fireworks. He said he used to bring his grandkids to the park all the time. But now his grandkids are all grown, and their grandmother is now gone, but he decided to get a season pass this year so he could come to the park and enjoy the shows and the atmosphere. He told us he has lived on Western Row for years, and he was able to watch the fireworks from his bedroom window at one time, but now he can’t because the area has grown so much, he can only hear them now. So he decided to come up that evening to see them. I told him that we hear the fireworks every night from our house off of Fields Ertel too, we love the fact that we can, and that I could never understand how someone could buy a house close to the park and complain about that. My daughter talked to him a little, and she also made friends with a woman and her family sitting in the grass near us. I like how a small group of strangers were able to bond for a short while in a place that we all love, and my daughter’s reactions to the fireworks: “Ooh, that was a big giant one Daddy!”, “Ooh, that was a pretty one!” Lowlights: - We missed the clown band again! ARGH! - I wished they had been able to do the airshow that day, but they pushed it back until 7/5. I thought that the weather was clear enough to do it, but then again I’m not a pilot or parachutist. - After the Wallenda walk we decided to see Flashback. We were told by the usher there that the show was going to be pushed back ½ hour. No problem, we’ll go ride LBGC. While in line, we hear music coming from Showplace. After we get off the ride, another group who had done the same thing as us and we headed over to find the show had already started. The show had apparently been pushed back only 15 minutes instead of the 30 we were told. Thanks for the misinformation! But we figured that we only missed the first song, as the song was something about the 80’s in general and not an actual pop song from that era. - The Flashback show is the weakest show we’ve seen at the park this year or last. We’ll give it another shot, maybe they were just having an off performance. Everyone but one singer sounded really nasal, and if it’s one thing I can’t stand it’s nasally singing (Randy Travis comes to mind in that respect…ugh). I thought maybe it was the sound system since everyone sounded that way, with the exception of one person. Even Josh, who we’ve enjoyed in the past in other shows, seemed to be a little nasal. And I’m sorry, but there’s something not quite right about having a tenor sing the male part of “Time of My Life”. It needs a good, rich baritone like Bill Medley on the original recording. And then that same tenor sang “I Love Rock & Roll” by Joan Jett, a traditionally female song. I liked the giant boom boxes they brought out on stage, and how the speakers moved in and out of the box. However, the row of buttons for the tape deck on one of them was very crooked. It looked like it had been made for an elementary school play. The real star of the show was the girl who did the Tina Turner impersonation and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”. Wow, she was excellent! But like I said, we’ll try it again and hopefully it’s better next time. - While the fireworks were excellent, I wouldn't say that they were "the largest fireworks display in the 36 year history of the park" as it was advertised. The years when they shot from 2 different sites and the tower seemed bigger to me. But that's the typical KI Marketing overhype that we've come to know and love. Trip #10 – 7/6 Another trip to the Bay, this time with my uncle in tow. Highlights: - Started this visit once again with Endless Summer. - We had a great time, even though the water was a little chilly! Lowlights: - We had gotten our hands stamped after Endless Summer and drove to the waterpark entrance. When we went through the metal detectors at the waterpark, no one checked our handstamps. The one Admissions associate that was on that side was over near the exit with the stamp pad in her hand, not paying attention to us, and no one was exiting at the time so she should have been checking the handstamps. As a former Admissions associate, that really irks me! That and something else at that entrance which I won’t mention because I don’t want to give anyone ideas. It’s fairly easy to figure out and I’m sure it’s already being abused, but I won’t spread it. - We always bring in very little to the waterpark (towels, sunscreen, souvenir cup all in a Walmart/Kroger bag…that’s it, besides our passes and a little cash that we keep on us) and set it on/under a chair. Since our souvenir cup had ice in it, we put it under our chair, whereas we usually put it in the bag under a towel on the chair. We came back to the chair at the end of the day, and our cup was gone! Someone had come along and stolen our cup, of all things! I guess we’ll spend another 139.8 nickels for a new one next time. Dang it, that one lasted us since the beginning of last season…

(XGatorHead does math; 86 years old - 50th anniversary = grandmother was 36 when it opened, comes up with comment and posts:) Because 36 is young! At least in my mind, since I'm 35...

^My mom once said if you trailer your bike to a rally, you're not a real biker! Her farthest trip was from Ohio to Texas. Of course, she rides a Gold Wing, so she was biking in luxury.

And what accompanies lightning? Thunder! So it can be deduced that it's the return of Thunderbolt Express, aka The Demon Strikes Back! And The Crypt is now a holding area for the figures that will be placed in the station of the new coaster. But seriously, I'm thinking Mustang based on the Ride Sally Ride sign, but this could be specifically to throw us off because that name has been used on this site for quite a while. I like the snake idea, snakes have a reputation of being slippery which ties into another sign. Going with the snake theme, Rattler or Sidewinder. CF already has Sierra Sidewinder at Knott's, so they can easily start using that animal since they've worn out variations of "Hawk" at their parks (Firehawk, Nighthawk, Thunderhawk... hey, that brings us back to Thunder! ). But with a Sidewinder relatively close at Hersheypark, who knows? (I know, Terpy, someone knows but they ain't sayin!) "Oh, I wish I was a silly, slippery snake. Oh, I wish I was a silly, slippery snake. Oh I'd slither across the floor and I'd slip under the door Oh, I wish I was a silly, slippery snake."

^Now count the number of posts that will follow that say stuff like "Well actually, those rides are safer than amusement park rides because they get inspected by blah, blah, blah..." I'm with ya there, KIBeast. I prefer my rides to be in one place and not moved around every week!

^Yes. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=224773